A couple involved in a bitter dispute with their neighbour over the placement of a wheelie bin have been asked to pay almost £37,000 in legal fees.

Liaquat and Liphe Ali say they are horrified at the latest claim for costs in the long-running argument with their next door neighbour Iqban Suleman.

The couple went through a “year of hell” after Mr Suleman began a civil action in 2011.

He claimed the bin blocked his access through a shared driveway between the two semi-detached properties in Brook Avenue, Edgware.

The hearing was thrown out at court last year but Mr Suleman, represented by solicitors from Lyons Davidson, pursued the Alis for the full cost of his legal fees, which, at the first claim, amounted to £21,000.

But the Ali’s were even more stunned when Mr Suleman came back at them at the end of last year with a claim for £36,370.

Father-of-two Mr Ali, 49, said: “When we heard it had reached £37,000 we just felt sheer horror and frustration.

“We keep waiting for him to take us to a costs hearing but nothing has happened, he just keeps asking us to pay. It has become a war of attrition about who will give in first – he’s just playing a waiting game.”

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Comments (3)

Crazy story. How did the bill double in 3 months? I suspect dodgy accounting OR maybe they are trying to include an uplift in their original fee! If it is the latter, that's very cheeky as their original bill has not even been formally agreed in Court under detailed assessment! Talk about counting their chickens before they hatch! In any case such costs need to be proportionate to the issue in hard (CPR rule 44.5). My god, I can't imagine what would happen if I wrongly parked my car in their staff car park for a couple of hours...I wonder what the bill would then be if they can charge that for placing a wheelie bin in the wrong place!

Crazy story. How did the bill double in 3 months? I suspect dodgy accounting OR maybe they are trying to include an uplift in their original fee! If it is the latter, that's very cheeky as their original bill has not even been formally agreed in Court under detailed assessment! Talk about counting their chickens before they hatch! In any case such costs need to be proportionate to the issue in hard (CPR rule 44.5). My god, I can't imagine what would happen if I wrongly parked my car in their staff car park for a couple of hours...I wonder what the bill would then be if they can charge that for placing a wheelie bin in the wrong place!SilentReaper

Crazy story. How did the bill double in 3 months? I suspect dodgy accounting OR maybe they are trying to include an uplift in their original fee! If it is the latter, that's very cheeky as their original bill has not even been formally agreed in Court under detailed assessment! Talk about counting their chickens before they hatch! In any case such costs need to be proportionate to the issue in hard (CPR rule 44.5). My god, I can't imagine what would happen if I wrongly parked my car in their staff car park for a couple of hours...I wonder what the bill would then be if they can charge that for placing a wheelie bin in the wrong place!

Score: 3

The-Orphaned-Wheelie-Bin says...10:06pm Mon 7 Jan 13

I checked out the Solicitors From Hell website and my long lost parent has put in a posting on that site http://www.solicitor sfromhell.net/index. php?option=com_sobi2 &sobi2Task=sobi2Deta ils&sobi2Id=222&Item id= So Suleman tried to fleece my parents for "damages" and these were then "abandoned". He also made allegations of "heavy machinery" being picked up by his builder and van but my parents took photos and blocked the builder in! I hope the judge gets this dude thirty seven thousand punches and kicks for what he is trying to pull! Good the story also went national in the Daily Mail on the 4th January 2013: check out the heading "the £40,000 battle of the wheelie bins": check out all the comments posted too!!! Strange Suleman was not available for comment (as usual). Odd if someone owed me £40K, I would seize the opportunity, got on TV and National Press with the wife and kids and ask for my money back right away. More odd considering my parent (Mr Ali) took the time and trouble contacting the Daily Mail so Suleman should have seized the opportunity to get his own back! I think it speaks for itself!

I checked out the Solicitors From Hell website and my long lost parent has put in a posting on that site
http://www.solicitor
sfromhell.net/index.
php?option=com_sobi2
&sobi2Task=sobi2Deta
ils&sobi2Id=222&Item
id=
So Suleman tried to fleece my parents for "damages" and these were then "abandoned". He also made allegations of "heavy machinery" being picked up by his builder and van but my parents took photos and blocked the builder in! I hope the judge gets this dude thirty seven thousand punches and kicks for what he is trying to pull! Good the story also went national in the Daily Mail on the 4th January 2013: check out the heading "the £40,000 battle of the wheelie bins": check out all the comments posted too!!! Strange Suleman was not available for comment (as usual). Odd if someone owed me £40K, I would seize the opportunity, got on TV and National Press with the wife and kids and ask for my money back right away. More odd considering my parent (Mr Ali) took the time and trouble contacting the Daily Mail so Suleman should have seized the opportunity to get his own back! I think it speaks for itself!The-Orphaned-Wheelie-Bin

I checked out the Solicitors From Hell website and my long lost parent has put in a posting on that site http://www.solicitor sfromhell.net/index. php?option=com_sobi2 &sobi2Task=sobi2Deta ils&sobi2Id=222&Item id= So Suleman tried to fleece my parents for "damages" and these were then "abandoned". He also made allegations of "heavy machinery" being picked up by his builder and van but my parents took photos and blocked the builder in! I hope the judge gets this dude thirty seven thousand punches and kicks for what he is trying to pull! Good the story also went national in the Daily Mail on the 4th January 2013: check out the heading "the £40,000 battle of the wheelie bins": check out all the comments posted too!!! Strange Suleman was not available for comment (as usual). Odd if someone owed me £40K, I would seize the opportunity, got on TV and National Press with the wife and kids and ask for my money back right away. More odd considering my parent (Mr Ali) took the time and trouble contacting the Daily Mail so Suleman should have seized the opportunity to get his own back! I think it speaks for itself!

Score: 3

RespectAndDignity says...10:28pm Mon 7 Jan 13

To present his neighbour with a law suit over the positioning of a wheelie bin is both disgusting and outrageous! And then for a County Court judge to say No Order to Costs and then renege on this by saying pay up the bill (now alleged at £37,000) is both a mockery of the justice system. For starters the judge should be sacked for misconduct and secondly this Claimant should be done for his wickedness and cowardice failing to comment or offer any explanation! BTW judging by what's going on, I think in another 3 months time, we'll get another update on this story and the bill will then be ... lets guess £60,000? Everyone agree! Describing this case as crazy is not even an understatement!

To present his neighbour with a law suit over the positioning of a wheelie bin is both disgusting and outrageous! And then for a County Court judge to say No Order to Costs and then renege on this by saying pay up the bill (now alleged at £37,000) is both a mockery of the justice system. For starters the judge should be sacked for misconduct and secondly this Claimant should be done for his wickedness and cowardice failing to comment or offer any explanation! BTW judging by what's going on, I think in another 3 months time, we'll get another update on this story and the bill will then be ... lets guess £60,000? Everyone agree! Describing this case as crazy is not even an understatement!RespectAndDignity

To present his neighbour with a law suit over the positioning of a wheelie bin is both disgusting and outrageous! And then for a County Court judge to say No Order to Costs and then renege on this by saying pay up the bill (now alleged at £37,000) is both a mockery of the justice system. For starters the judge should be sacked for misconduct and secondly this Claimant should be done for his wickedness and cowardice failing to comment or offer any explanation! BTW judging by what's going on, I think in another 3 months time, we'll get another update on this story and the bill will then be ... lets guess £60,000? Everyone agree! Describing this case as crazy is not even an understatement!

Ipsoregulated

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